If anyone's interested:
https://www.engadget.com/2016/10/04/xiaomi-s-69-4k-android-tv-box-arrives-in-the-us/
Xiaomi, $69.
https://www.engadget.com/2016/10/04/xiaomi-s-69-4k-android-tv-box-arrives-in-the-us/
Xiaomi, $69.
4K Android-based Streamer
- Thread starter Botch
- Start date
Kazaam
Well-Known Member
I'll have had the Mi Box for two weeks tomorrow.
I like it, but at least mine has a bug where it will sometimes default back to 720p if I ever restart the system. But otherwise it'll stay at UHD/60. So not a huge deal.
Never having had Chromecast, I do appreciate the Mi Box's ability to Google Cast. Works great for using Slacker which doesn't have an Android TV app. Oh... And disabling the XiaomiLeanbackCustomizer app removes the section of pre installed Mi Box recommendations, giving more of a stock android tv look. Moreover, I Like the power button on the remote to put into sleep/standby. Though, the lack of play/pause on the remote is annoying.
Things I'm a little questionable on are the scenes with black backgrounds. YouTube, mostly. Just seems like maybe they are more blotchy and pixelated with Mi Box than say, similar videos watched on my TV's built in YouTube app. But I've not bothered to actually compare quality between the two, so Mi Box picture quality might not actually be worse.
And wifi I suspect is faster in my TV (stronger signal maybe) than with Mi Box, because I think maybe 4K demos from YouTube probably look a little more impressive on my Samsung TVs built in YouTube app.
Been thinking about just setting the box to 1080p. I'm Wondering if overall performance might slightly improve as a result??? I dunno if that's likely. But I'm pretty sure I don't need 4K material on my nowadays relatively tiny 55" TV, even if it is technically 4K.
That said, I'm happy with Mi Box for the simple stuff I do---YouTube, Netflix, Vudu, Google Music, etc. Can't go too wrong. After a $5 vudu movie credit, the price was only $64.
I like it, but at least mine has a bug where it will sometimes default back to 720p if I ever restart the system. But otherwise it'll stay at UHD/60. So not a huge deal.
Never having had Chromecast, I do appreciate the Mi Box's ability to Google Cast. Works great for using Slacker which doesn't have an Android TV app. Oh... And disabling the XiaomiLeanbackCustomizer app removes the section of pre installed Mi Box recommendations, giving more of a stock android tv look. Moreover, I Like the power button on the remote to put into sleep/standby. Though, the lack of play/pause on the remote is annoying.
Things I'm a little questionable on are the scenes with black backgrounds. YouTube, mostly. Just seems like maybe they are more blotchy and pixelated with Mi Box than say, similar videos watched on my TV's built in YouTube app. But I've not bothered to actually compare quality between the two, so Mi Box picture quality might not actually be worse.
And wifi I suspect is faster in my TV (stronger signal maybe) than with Mi Box, because I think maybe 4K demos from YouTube probably look a little more impressive on my Samsung TVs built in YouTube app.
Been thinking about just setting the box to 1080p. I'm Wondering if overall performance might slightly improve as a result??? I dunno if that's likely. But I'm pretty sure I don't need 4K material on my nowadays relatively tiny 55" TV, even if it is technically 4K.
That said, I'm happy with Mi Box for the simple stuff I do---YouTube, Netflix, Vudu, Google Music, etc. Can't go too wrong. After a $5 vudu movie credit, the price was only $64.
Kazaam
Well-Known Member
From what I've read, I think there might be an IR receiver on this thing because I've seen some mentions of using it with a harmony remote (650, like mine, I think they said). Lack of voice search would suck, but someday I'd like to reprogram the harmony and try it out.
the android phone remote control app works pretty good. Gives me the play/pause button I miss.
Definitely is worth the money to me. And the built in chromecasting is great to have since the wifi in my cheap ass pioneer receiver is so dang buggy that it sadly renders AirPlay useless. Been thinking I might replacing it with one of those refurbished slimline Marantz receivers maybe a year from now.
the android phone remote control app works pretty good. Gives me the play/pause button I miss.
Definitely is worth the money to me. And the built in chromecasting is great to have since the wifi in my cheap ass pioneer receiver is so dang buggy that it sadly renders AirPlay useless. Been thinking I might replacing it with one of those refurbished slimline Marantz receivers maybe a year from now.
Kazaam
Well-Known Member
So about the blotchiness with black scenes...
I finally compared the same videos using my TVs built in YouTube app and the Mi Box YouTube app... Both have the same dark blotchiness. So either it's just the videos themselves or my TV itself. Regardless, I'd say the Mi Box isn't to blame.
I finally compared the same videos using my TVs built in YouTube app and the Mi Box YouTube app... Both have the same dark blotchiness. So either it's just the videos themselves or my TV itself. Regardless, I'd say the Mi Box isn't to blame.
The quality of the content on YouTube is highly variable, so compression artifacts are basically baked into the lower quality content. Putting that aside, the most common cause of obvious compression artifacts is bandwidth constraints. How fast is your internet and how fast is the connection between your router and the box?
Kazaam
Well-Known Member
Yeah, macro blocking looks right, but not not in the areas of detail and bright color.
Speed tests on are usually are around 80-90 Mbps on my iPad on 5ghz N. And when I put my iPad in the same spot as the mi box, I got speeds of 48, 75, and 82 on a few tests.
That said this tv is tucked away in a basement that I know has an area or two that is prone to an occasional dropout, which is why I usually keep the iPad on 2.4ghz as it seems ro help with dropouts even if sometimes isn't quite as fast on average. Though right now I've got the mi box hooked up to 5ghz AC. Don't suppose anyone has had any luck Sideloading ookla speedtest onto an android tv? That would be interesting to try to get a better idea of the streamer itself.
Speed tests on are usually are around 80-90 Mbps on my iPad on 5ghz N. And when I put my iPad in the same spot as the mi box, I got speeds of 48, 75, and 82 on a few tests.
That said this tv is tucked away in a basement that I know has an area or two that is prone to an occasional dropout, which is why I usually keep the iPad on 2.4ghz as it seems ro help with dropouts even if sometimes isn't quite as fast on average. Though right now I've got the mi box hooked up to 5ghz AC. Don't suppose anyone has had any luck Sideloading ookla speedtest onto an android tv? That would be interesting to try to get a better idea of the streamer itself.
Kazaam
Well-Known Member
Just a curiosity, but about HDMI cables...
Are 10.2ghz data speed cables OK? Or should I jump up to the 18ghz speed ones?
I want to replace the hdmi cable that comes with mi box because it's pretty short.
Monoprice seems to say that the cheaper 10.2 is only good for up to 2160p/24, whereas they claim their more expensive 18ghz cables can do up to 2160p/60. I recall in the past that an hdmi cable was good if it worked. But I don't know if I've yet tried any actual 2160/60 content or not (I once read that YouTube was only at 2160/30, though I donT know if that's still true).
I'm running cheap monoprice branded cables that say high speed on them. I bought them maybe 3 years ago, maybe???
Are 10.2ghz data speed cables OK? Or should I jump up to the 18ghz speed ones?
I want to replace the hdmi cable that comes with mi box because it's pretty short.
Monoprice seems to say that the cheaper 10.2 is only good for up to 2160p/24, whereas they claim their more expensive 18ghz cables can do up to 2160p/60. I recall in the past that an hdmi cable was good if it worked. But I don't know if I've yet tried any actual 2160/60 content or not (I once read that YouTube was only at 2160/30, though I donT know if that's still true).
I'm running cheap monoprice branded cables that say high speed on them. I bought them maybe 3 years ago, maybe???
Kazaam
Well-Known Member
The good: Confirmed that there is an IR port. Even disconnected the HDMI cable to ensure it wasn't just HDMI-CEC controls at work. The bad: But the harmony 650 isn't quite as quick or accurate with regards to button clicks as the bluetooth remote.
The worse: This thing just wants to randomly switch to lower resolutions like 720p and 1080i, sometimes now even when just putting it into sleep mode. Before I thought it only happened after system restarts. Guess not. This is probably my biggest gripe considering my basic requirements. I'll hope for a software fix, since I'm not the only one, but they had at least 4 months between announcement and release to tweak this thing.
The worse: This thing just wants to randomly switch to lower resolutions like 720p and 1080i, sometimes now even when just putting it into sleep mode. Before I thought it only happened after system restarts. Guess not. This is probably my biggest gripe considering my basic requirements. I'll hope for a software fix, since I'm not the only one, but they had at least 4 months between announcement and release to tweak this thing.
Kazaam
Well-Known Member
The bad: No surround sound via VUDU.
Somewhat surprising since Walmart is currently the exclusive retailer for Mi Box, but apparently some guy on the vudu forum says he took a peek at the programming for the apps APK and said that its just a shell app that accesses the vudu website using a custom web browser to playback movies; hence, the apparent reason for the lack of Dolby digital plus 5.1. I guess I believe him, but it is strange that the movie descriptions claim DD+ 5.1 surround.
Guess I'll just rent movies from Google Play for now, which has surround just fine.
Other stuff...
I side loaded ookla speedtest and the wifi must be pretty good since I was getting speeds of around 75mbps on Mi Box,
Also side loaded Angry Birds 2, which kinda works with a Bluetooth mouse, but unfortunately gets hung up any time you don't get all the pigs on the first (and your only) try. Can't go back to the slingshot to try again for some reason. Well... It's not a true Android TV app, I suppose, would be why.
Somewhat surprising since Walmart is currently the exclusive retailer for Mi Box, but apparently some guy on the vudu forum says he took a peek at the programming for the apps APK and said that its just a shell app that accesses the vudu website using a custom web browser to playback movies; hence, the apparent reason for the lack of Dolby digital plus 5.1. I guess I believe him, but it is strange that the movie descriptions claim DD+ 5.1 surround.
Guess I'll just rent movies from Google Play for now, which has surround just fine.
Other stuff...
I side loaded ookla speedtest and the wifi must be pretty good since I was getting speeds of around 75mbps on Mi Box,
Also side loaded Angry Birds 2, which kinda works with a Bluetooth mouse, but unfortunately gets hung up any time you don't get all the pigs on the first (and your only) try. Can't go back to the slingshot to try again for some reason. Well... It's not a true Android TV app, I suppose, would be why.
Kazaam
Well-Known Member
I suspect it may be a case of the good app with working DD+ being made available only to select devices, which makes the lack of DD+ on the Mi Box vudu app all the more curious.
Won't go back to find where I read it, but if I remember correctly, someone had posted that there wasn't a Vudu app searchable in the Google store for the Nexus Player and so they side loaded the Mi Box's vudu app onto it and it worked, but still no surround. And that maybe there was a vudu app with working DD+ 5.1 available on Nvidia shield, and so someone wondered why they couldn't just make that app available to all devices. It'd be one thing if mi box wasn't capable of passing through DD+, but it clearly can on other apps.
Won't go back to find where I read it, but if I remember correctly, someone had posted that there wasn't a Vudu app searchable in the Google store for the Nexus Player and so they side loaded the Mi Box's vudu app onto it and it worked, but still no surround. And that maybe there was a vudu app with working DD+ 5.1 available on Nvidia shield, and so someone wondered why they couldn't just make that app available to all devices. It'd be one thing if mi box wasn't capable of passing through DD+, but it clearly can on other apps.